Treatment of Textiles in Plasma Afterglow

The use of textiles for technical applications in plasma processes can be of significant interest. In this work we compile three different uses which are complementary and allow to explain basic surface phenomena related to the action of cold plasmas in the afterglow on the textile fibers.

In particular, this chapter reproduces the results obtained on chosen fabrics treated in and afterglows where the and O-atoms are the dominant active species employed to develop process indicators and membranes for sterilisation processes. In this sense wool fabrics are employed to verify the transmission of atoms with regard to the modification of materials contained within sterilisation pouches. The hydrophilicity of the wool was found to change from hydrophobic to hydrophilic after 2 minutes of afterglow treatment at 4 Torr, 1 slpm, 100 Watt. In the development of sterilisation indicators, cotton yarns knitted with copper wire, and containing a thermocromic dye, revealed a clear colour change from white to magenta after treated in the same afterglow conditions for 40 minutes.

In the last part of this work, wool fabrics have been used to investigate the effects of and atoms from and afterglows on conferring them with shrink-resistant properties.